Nicodemus: A Spirit-filled Story

“The wind blows where it chooses,

and you hear the sound of it,

but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.

So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus' story is more than sorting out Jesus and the Pharisees differences.

It’s more than figuring out how Jesus gets the authority to do many “signs”.

The Nicodemus story is really about people coming to see and understand the amazing things Jesus does.

It’s all about understanding God’s Spirit, following Jesus and wanting to change to see God's kingdom in a new way.

Since the Spirit works mysteriously, it’s compared to the wind blowing wherever it wants.

It’s about God and people working together, so followers of Jesus notice and experience God’s work through him.

The “signs” Jesus does are meant to show God getting involved in the world God made and loved enough to send his Son.

Nicodemus’s story is a great example the Spirit’s work.

Nicodemus, story makes it clear something’s happening: he gets braver and acts more fairly because God’s Spirit is moving in his life.

Looking at Nicodemus’s whole journey you see something bigger.

You see Nicodemus’ story inviting everyone to see themselves in the narrative: starting out with questions, moving to standing up for what’s right, and eventually saying “yes” to Jesus, even when it’s risky.

The Spirit shows how God is always at work in the world getting people to respond.

Belief is how we see what God’s doing and get to be a part of it: “So must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life”.

Safe in God's Hands

 Then the devil took him to the holy city and

placed him on the pinnacle of the temple saying to him,

“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,

so that you will not dash your foot against a stone

What sort of place comes to mind when you imagine a wilderness? 

A dry and weary place, an inner, personal space of hardship?

It's comforting to imagine a wilderness this way because we can then place our trust and hope in Jesus who experienced this type of wilderness.

Living in the Poconos as I do, the wilderness is more for recreation so placing hope and trust in Jesus is far from the need for placing hope and trust in the Israelite wilderness.

The Israelites’ wilderness was a place of survival testing.

As their journey went from generation to generation, they had to continue to build on their hope and trust.

It is this same trust and hope that is tested in Jesus’s own wilderness story.

Jesus is tempted by food, by who to worship, and by the power of the nations and shows the path to righteousness as he resists Satan’s temptations.

Jesus’ trust and hope came from the scriptures based on God’s promises in Deuteronomy.

As followers of Jesus, we can expect temptations to distract us from doing the work of a disciple.

Our trust and hope are anchored in the promises of God, especially as we navigate moments of suffering and trials.

Just as Jesus confronted temptation, we too are invited to place our confidence in God’s faithfulness.

Its is God’s Word that sustains as we wait for the fulfillment of God, s kingdom.